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Here’s another in the series of newly cleared overlooks, the product of the hard work done by Jeff Chabot and his trail clearing volunteers. This one is the popular Lind Point Battery Overlook on the Lind Point Trail.
Lind Point Battery Overlook
view to the north from the bench on the Lind Point Battery Overlook
As promised here are some more photos of the overlooks recently cleared by Jeff Chabot and his crew of intrepid volunteers. From those of us who hike the trails of St. John:
THANK YOU!!!
View from the Bench on Caneel Hill
The Caneel Hill Bench
View from the Caneel Hill bench
Hikers following the Caneel Hill Trail beginning from the National Park Visitors Center in Cruz Bay or from the Caneel Hill Spur will arrive at a wooden bench just before they reach the summit of Caneel Hill. There is now a view from this very welcomed resting spot that at least for the view to the north goes, rivals the view from the viewing tower at the summit. This thanks to the hard work and dedication of the trail crew from the Appalachian Mountain Club.
“The hottest blues festival on the coolest Caribbean island”
Wednesday – March 17th through Sunday – March 21st
The main show is Saturday evening March 20th – 7:00 PM in the Coral Bay Ball Field
STARRING
The Deanna Bogart Band – The Ford Blues Band – EG Kight
JP Soars & The Red Hots – JT Lauritsen – Shakura S’Aida
Billy Gibson – The Ty Curtis Band – Washboard Jo TICKETS PURCHASED IN ADVANCE ARE $25 (TICKETS PURCHASED AT THE SHOW ARE $30)
TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE
On St. John at:
Connections – Cruz Bay
Connections – Coral Bay
Chelsea Drugs – The Marketplace
On St. Thomas at:
Chelsea Drugs – Red Hook
Food & Beverage Service Available all evening long
So bring a blanket, bring a chair, but please be cool………..no coolers
$5 Safari taxi rides all night from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay Ball Field & back to Cruz Bay
Special 1:00 AM Passenger Ferry from Cruz Bay to Red Hook
For additional information go to stjohnbluesfestival.com
or contact Steve Simon at 340-643-6475 or at
stevesimonlive@yahoo.com
The St John Film Society will welcome visiting filmmaker Marta Bautis on Thursday, 7:00 PM, February 18th at the Marketplace in Cruz Bay.
With her award winning film. Sarayaku: Rivers of Corn, Ms. Bautis will introduce us to the inspiring Kichua women of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Please save this date and stay tuned for more information to follow on this upcoming event.
Meet the Filmmaker!
Join us for a special pri fixe dinner at La Plancha del Mar before the film. Our friends at La Plancha will be serving a lovely three course meal, including wine tasting!
5:30 PM $35 p/p or $25 for Film Society Members (Memberships sold at the door) Seating will be limited so please make your reservation today!
For better or for worse, the poet Curtney Chinnery, aka the “Ghost From Jost” is back on St. John.
The Ghost and I made this video yesterday demonstrating how to catch a tarantula. Apparently there are nearly 1,000 species of tarantula and not all are as deadly as commonly imagines. I have heard that these tarantulas, or ground spiders as they are sometimes called on St. John, can inflict a painful bite, but one which is rarely fatal.
Moreover, our St. John tarantulas are not aggressive at all and are fearful of humans.
Stay tunes for more adventures of the “Ghost From Jost…”
In the last few years, the Maria Hope Trail has become a popular hiking venue. Passing through shady lush tropical forest, this old Danish Road provides Maho and Cinnamon Bay campers with convenient access to the Reef Bay Trail, historically significant ruins and a scenic overlook with bird’s eye views of Maho and Francis Bays and vistas extending eastward to West End Tortola and beyond.
There have been some complaints, however, about the fact that the trail runs over private land at the lower elevations. There is now a cure for that. Down on the lower section, just before the wire fence that crosses the trail, there is a nice trail that switchbacks down the hill and comes out at Maho Beach, just east of the green building on the beach.
Alternate entrance to the Maria Hope Trail
There is a road sign (West RT. 20) where it comes out.
This new section of trail passes through the flats just inland from Maho Beach before the it begins its steep uphill climb.
Maho Bay Flats
The low lying flats present a unique forested environment without thick or thorny undergrowth making it easy to pass though and enjoy.
The 1966 copy of VI View, lent to me by Maureen Anderson contained one of the chapters of Erva Boulon’s book My Island Kitchen, which was published in its complete form in 1969..
In her blog, Random Thoughts, Bish Denham, Erva’s grand daughter, who grew up on St. John writes about her grandmother.
“…After World War II Grammy ran Trunk Bay as a guest house. She did it without electricity, cooking three meals a day for her guests. John Dos Passos, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and his wife were among some of her more well-known guests. She gained the reputation for being a superior hostess and an excellent cook. Using local foods, she learned how to prepare them in ways that would please American taste buds. An article was written about her in the cooking section of the New York Times and she wrote a cook-book call My Island Kitchen. I loved having breakfast at her table because she would toast your bread on a charcoal pot set on a small table next to her chair….”
When Trunk Bay was sold to the Virgin Islands National Park, Erva moved over to Maho Bay with a new husband, Bill Thorp, and built another small guest house called “Lille Maho” next to the present Maho Campground, which she operated through the 1960s.
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